‘Rule Of Three’: Deadly Family Curse Horror Pic Stars Thomasin McKenzie, Chloe East, Sutton Foster & More

Production is underway on a new family-centric horror film with “Rule of Three,” that has a neat cast that includes Thomasin McKenzie (“Last Night In Soho,” “Jojo Rabbit”), Chloe East (“Heretic”), Sutton Foster (“Younger”), Jimmi Simpson (“Westworld”), Tom Everett Scott (“An American Werewolf In Paris”) and Bilal Hasna (“The Agency”). At the heart of the horror flick’s premise, it will explore a deadly family curse and mix various genre tropes with two young ladies as our protagonists.

In the report from Deadline, it mentions that James Roday Rodriguez (“Gravy”) directs from a script he co-wrote with Todd Harthan, which is an adaptation of the 2022 genre-bending suspense novel by Sam Ripley, cited by the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, as a mix between “The Slender Man” and “The Blair Witch Project” (sounds like a little “Final Destination” is in there as well).

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A logline for “Rule of Three” as mentioned by the outlet:

Are Amy (East) and her family plagued by a deadly curse? Every three years, death strikes under mysterious circumstances, horrifically killing family members. It’s almost three years to the day since Amy’s parents’ death, and Amy realizes the curse must strike her next. With the help of her best friend Lizzy (McKenzie), the two friends try to cheat Amy’s death and find a way to reverse the curse.”

The horror feature hails from Temple Hill (behind “Smile,” “Maze Runner,” and “Twilight”) and Nostromo Pictures, with Protagonist Pictures handling sales at the European Film Market this month in Berlin. They have already secured a bunch of pre-sales and will continue dealmaking that Deadline reveals will include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France (Wildbunch), Portugal (Cinemundo), Latin America (Sun), Australia and New Zealand (Umbrella), Eastern Europe (M2), Baltics (ACME), Ukraine (Greenlight), India (Pictureworks), Philippines (Pioneer), Middle East (Front Row) and Israel (Lev). “Clown In A Cornfield” was the previous team-up from Temple Hill and Protagonist.

Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, and Isaac Klausner will produce the pic at Temple Hill, with Hal Sadoff and Ben Levine executive-producing. Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls are producing for Nostromo. Also, Dave Bishop, James Pugh, and George Hamilton serve as executive producers for Protagonist, alongside Rodriguez and Harthan’s banner Taft Tennis.

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The hope here is that “Rule of Three” will be the first of many films as part of a new horror franchise. We’ll see if that ultimately happens, as audiences will likely determine if there will be sequels, despite the intention here to shoot multiple installments.